Thilakan has been put on ventilator for the past few days, following multiple organ failure

While Kerala celebrates its harvest festival Onam, veteran actor Thilakan battles for life.

Thilakan was admitted to the KIMS Hospital late last week. The entire whos’s who of the Malayalam film and political world in Thiruvananthapuram has called on the 74-year-old award-winning actor.

Thilakan, who has been acting for over three decades, has essayed roles in nearly 300 films. A medical bulletin issued by the private hospital where Thilakan is under treatment said Tuesday that the actor’s condition remains critical. On Monday, his kidneys were affected and his blood pressure dropped. Congress politician-turned-actor Raj Mohan Unnithan said, “The doctors told me that the situation continues to remain critical. All we can do is pray. I am sure all film lovers in Kerala would be doing that.”

Beginning his career in the 1950s through the theatre movement, Thilakan performed in a film for the first time in the 1979 film Ulkadal. Thilakan’s latest film, Ustad Hotel, (the second film of superstar Mammootty’s son Dulqar Salman) is currently running in theatres.

Veteran Malayalam actor Thilakan, 74, is in a critical condition after suffering two heart attacks

Kerala will take care of the medical bills of Thilakan said, Health Minister VS Sivakumar on Sunday.Thilakan suffered two consecutive heart attacks on Saturday. He has been admitted to a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram and is on the ventilator for now. “The chief minister (Oommen Chandy) has cleared this decision. I met the doctors and they have told me that he continues to be on ventilator, but his overall health condition has shown a slight improvement, but still he is not out of danger,” said Sivakumar, who visited Thilakan.

The 74-year-old actor from Kerala has been part of nearly 300 films, most of them in Malayalam. Superstar Suresh Gopi is hopeful and said: “I feel, he (Thilakan) will be soon acting again. When he saw me, I could see tears trickling down his cheeks and this is a good sign because he is expressing himself. We should all extend our prayers to him.”

Beginning his career in the 1950s through the theatre movement, he did his first film Ulkadal in in 1979. In his over three decade film career, he has featured in about 300 films. His latest films,Ustad Hotel and Indian Rupee, has been declared a hit.